Jeff, go to this site and do a search on the Kenai and you WILL find all of the answers to your questions: http://www.akflyfishers.org/forum/ I fished the Kenai twice about 10 years ago on Labor Day weekend. The Kenai is a large, fast river that has a glacial tint to it. The Sockeye should be spawning and the second run of silvers should be moving in. We also saw quite a few beat up Chinook. The primary food source is eggs. So match the hatch, be it glow bugs or plastic beads. Check the regs: http://www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/FISH.GAME/sportf/geninfo/regs/reghome.h tmon on the bead flies, if I remember right, they are prohibited on some rivers. Egg colors vary with the amount of time that they have spent in the water. Give a call to McAfee's Fly Shop (907) 34-1617, they can give you specifics if they are still open. I was last there in 1996. My wife, son and I used a guide on our first day of fishing on the Kenai. They used spinning gear and I used fly gear. The tactics the guide showed us were the same. Glo Bugs with lots of lead shot. I had 6 pieces of "C" size shot attached to the leader on my 6 wght. The guide told me that most folks used an 8 wght to better handle all the lead. The point is, you really need to get the egg fly down onto the gravel. We would stop on gravel bars in the middle of the river and wade out to about knee depth, no deeper due to the current's strength. Mind you, sockeye (red salmon) are spawning all around your feet. You cast the line out. (don't forget to duck) Since, for the most part, the river has a gravel bottom you will feel the shot bouncing along. If you don't, you don't have on enough shot. You will feel the dolly or bow grab the fly and take off with it. You will also get some hook ups with the reds (sockeyes) and some of those will be foul hooks. When you see the number of salmon, you will understand why. I tried high sticking with an indicator to prevent any foul hooking, but it just wasn't effective. When fishing from the boat the tactics are the same. Cast the fly out so it will drift with the current of the river and boat. When a fish takes you fly, you will know it. The fish are amazingly strong and fat by September. After releasing your catch, you hand will smell as if you had caught a fish from the ocean instead of fresh water. Another option is to hike up the Russian river past the camp grounds. The combat fishing crew is lined up along the confluence of the Kenai and Russian rivers. For the most part this guys are looking for fresh silvers to take home. Hike up river an quarter mile and the crowds thin out real fast. Make noise when hiking, this is bear country. The Russian is wadable freestone river. Sight fish for bows and dollies behind the red's (sockeye's) reds (spawning beds) with your egg patterns. Send us a report when you get back. Regards Mike Santangelo
